My colleague told their co-worker to “talk to HR.” The co-worker’s response was…”HR Who?” This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert was shocked when I heard that comment. That being said, I have heard comments like this time and time again recently. People don’t know the people in HR, they never see the people in HR and the people in HR are not accessible! And we wonder why people are disengaged. This sends the message that, frankly, people are not terribly important to the organization when they have no contact with the people who are supposed to help people in the organization.
This employee recruitment expert’s colleague was older. The person they were talking to was younger. My colleague comes from a generation where HR was visible and available to assist employees with issues. HR is doing itself, and their organization, a major disservice when they fail to do so. We are seeing a whole generation of young workers being taught that HR is not there for them and in many cases view HR as a joke. That is not only sad but also bad business. You are sending a negative message about your culture. But this problem is easily solved.
Instead of having HR working remote or isolated in one area in the organization, embed them in various areas in the organization. Having worked in large organizations, this was the norm for me. I didn’t work remotely, and I was in an area adjacent to the engineering, accounting and customer service area. People knew they could come to me and ask questions, bring up issues or simply say “hi.” This employee retention trainer also strolled through the department’s regularly, ate in the lunchroom with people and used the same bathrooms. I was known as a result and to them HR was a real person. This developed trust in me and in the organization. This should be a part of your employee retention strategies.
It doesn’t matter what type of organization you belong to. As we are bringing people back into the office, HR needs to be visible and available. If HR is working hybrid, their hours need to be consistent and posted on their door along with a number where they can be reached if they are out of the office on particular day. Working remote is not an excuse to be invisible and unavailable. If HR is totally remote, organizations need to ensure people know how to access HR. Perhaps this employee retention author is “old school” but I guarantee you nobody in organizations where I was an HR Leader ever made the statement, “HR Who?”
Is your organization struggling to retain people? If you are an HR Leader, General Manager or an owner of an organization, call me at 414-305-9626 or email me at jeff@jeffkortes.com and I can explain how the C.R.A.P approach can reduce your employee turnover by 40-80%. I will also gladly give you advice so you never hear the statement “HR Who?’ in your organization!
